Mary
Wise, the winning head women’s volleyball coach at the University
of Florida, inspired the Saint Leo audience Thursday night by
recounting her early career. Everyone has to start somewhere, she
told listeners. She credited an inexperienced, cigarette-smoking
high school coach with forcing her to become a leader. Wise was
later a setter at Purdue University, and then, at age 21, a coach
with a huge learning curve at Iowa State. Over the course of a
career that also brought her to Kentucky and Florida, Wise said she
learned to champion volleyball and other women’s sports for even
the youngest of girls. She told the crowd she intends to keep
promoting women’s sports. She has now been coaching for 20 years.
The banquet also provided an opportunity to formally recognize the
Lions’ own 2009 Sunshine State Conference-winning volleyball
team.

Pictured: Mary Wise in the Student
Community Center/Photo by Mike Carlson